although not really. now we have a kid. but remember when we were 'Just Married'? That was good.
This is better though.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Clocking It

We have an ongoing battle, nay, a war going on nightly in our home. I can see no end to it and it aggravates me each night anew. It begins each night innocently enough, between 7pm and 8pm:

Me: What time do you think we should go to bed?

Him: Here we go again...

Me: Can we just go to bed early ONE DAMN NIGHT? I've been exhausted.

Him: Why can't you go yourself?

Inevitably, I end up going to bed on my own and not being able to really sleep well until he lays down next to me. So every DAMN NIGHT, I ask if he can please come to bed early for me. And every DAMN NIGHT, he doesn't. AND EVERY DAMN MORNING, HE WON'T GET OUT OF BED BECAUSE HE IS TOO TIRED FROM STAYING UP LATE. Is it too much to ask that he comes to bed at 11? Or in the alternative to get himself out of bed in the morning?

I have tried to reason with him. "How about 3 nights a week you come to bed early?" No. Even on nights he claims he will come to bed around 10, he ends up doing god only knows what until around 11 before he rolls upstairs...and I count these nights as a victory.

But what gets me, what really burns me, is the following conversation we have every morning:

Me: What time did you finally come to bed last night?

Him: Around 11:30

Me: I was awake at 11:30 and you weren't here

Him: 11:45?

Me: (cranky from not sleeping well) WHEN DID YOU COME TO BED REALLY?

How much longer can we go on like this? I'm thinking, not much.

*Please note that I am prone to being overdramatic...my husband does sometimes come to bed with me around 11, and in his defense, if I had my way, we would be in bed by 9...but my THEORY REMAINS UNCHANGED!

11 Comments:

I am EXACTLY the same way. I must be getting old, because I'm pretty much useless after 10:30. The other night Mark and I went to a 10:00 movie, which let out around 11:45 -- we were walking out and he gleefully exclaimed, "I can't believe you stayed awake the whole time!" He was so proud. :)

And, let me not end there. HE is also exactly the same way (as your husband). He thinks he's never going to be able to fall asleep so he stays up until all ungodly hours working on the computer or watching "I can't believe they survived that crash" videos on cable. He was seriously sleeping like 4 hours a night. His memory was getting bad and he was getting grouchy at the world.

I'd spend the night sometimes just to ensure that he went to bed at a decent hour. He'd nudge me about 10 minutes after laying down,"This is horrible, I just can't fall asleep"

I have the opposite problem. On any given night, say around 9 p.m., I'll look over at my husband sitting in his chair or lying on the floor and see him peacefully dozing. I'll get ready to go to bed between 10 or 11, and have to wake him up to go to bed. Then he's wide awake, wanting to talk, while I'm just trying to get him to be quiet so I can sleep! :)